A HISTORIC Mearns mansion could soon be home to English premier league football stars, with its sale due to be concluded to a sports therapy business with close links to Manchester United.

It has been confirmed by the selling agents that Fasque House at Fettercairn, with over 300 acres of surrounding land and woods plus an assortment of outlying houses and cottages, is under offer as one lot to the business.

Though “legal delicacies” are as yet ongoing, the multi-million pound deal is thought to be nearing completion.

A host of treasures have already been cleared from the mansion, once childhood home of the grand old man of Victorian politics, William Ewart Gladstone, in readiness for the new occupants.

And excitement in the area is already mounting at the prospect of such modern icons as Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo taking up residence.

Reports that Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had family connections with the buyer however went unconfirmed yesterday.

“Because it is based in Manchester, the sports therapy firm will have close connections with Manchester United, but equally caters to any of the English premier clubs,” said a source.

For almost two centuries, Fasque House at Fettercairn has been one of the great country mansions of Scotland, synonymous with Gladstone, four times Prime Minister to Queen Victoria.

The vast Georgian mansion was bought by his father Sir John Gladstone in 1826, and was where the future leader of the Liberal Party spent much of his childhood and formative years.

Throughout his life he continued to visit the family home as often as he could, often walking from the railway station in Banchory, 15 miles away.

Until recently, the house still played host to a collection of his possessions while the library he compiled while he was at Oxford boasted a near definitive collection of classics of the age.

Latterly the owner has been Charles Gladstone who lives with his family on the estate and in recent years has overseen an extensive programme of renovations.

In a move that stunned locals, however, the mansion was sold to a local developer, Kincardine Farms LLP, last August.

The suggestion was it would be converted as luxury flats.

The sale would breathe new life into a historic building, last used as a family home in the 1920s, said Charles Gladstone.

He said at the time, “This sale will enable the estate to thrive and continue to employ more people every year. This is a positive thing.”

However, after changing hands only twice in the last six centuries, the property was back on the market in less than a month, at an asking price of £1.9 million.